33p-304-25m. 

If f |:| ^ 

THE 

i '' } t f{ i 

GENERAL ELECTION LAW 

PASSED BY THE 

TWENTY-EIGHTH LEGISLATURE 


TK & 3. 
.TV A* 

vjo'b 


OF THE 


STATE OF TEXAS. 

♦ * 


PRINTED FOR GENERAL DISTRIBUTION. 


J. R. CURL, Secretary of State. 



AUSTIN, TEXAS: 

VON BOECKMANN-JONHS CO., STATE PRINTERS. 
1904. 





By transfer 

JUN 19 1907 


9 

• « 
% I 
* • • 


I 


THE NEW GENERAL ELECTION LAW PASSED 
BY THE TWENTY-EIGHTH 
LEGISLATURE. 


ELECTIONS—MANNER OF HOLDING AND MAKING 
RETURNS. 

S. H. B. Nos. 45 and 170.] Chapter Cl. 

An Act to regulate elections and to prescribe penalties for its violation. 

Section 1 . Be it enacted ~by the Legislature of the State of Texas: 
The following classes of persons shall not be allowed to vote in this 
State: 

1. Persons under twenty-one years of age. 

2. Idiots or lunatics. 

3. All paupers supported by the county. 

4. All persons convicted of any felony, except those restored to full 
citizenship and right of suffrage, or pardoned. 

5. All soldiers, marines, and seamen, employed in the service of the 
army or navy of the United States. 

Sec. 2. Every male person subject to none of the foregoing disquali¬ 
fications who shall have attained the age of twenty-one years, and who 
shall be a citizen of the United States, and who shall have resided in this 
State one year next preceding an election, and the last six months within 
the district or county in which he offers to vote, shall be deemed a quali¬ 
fied elector; and every male person of foreign birth, subject to none of 
the foregoing disqualifications, who not less than six months before an 
election at which he offers to vote shall have declared his intention to 
become a citizen of the Uuited States, in accordance with the Federal 
naturalization laws, and shall have resided in this State one year next 
preceding such election and the last six months in the county in which 
he offers to vote, shall also be deemed a qualified elector; and all electors 
shall vote in the voting precinct of their residence; provided, that elec¬ 
tors living in an unorganized county may vote at any election precinct in 
the county to which such county is attached for judicial purposes; and, 
provided, further, that any voter who is subject to pay poll tax under 
the laws of the State of Texas shall have paid said tax before he offers 
to vote at any election in this State, and hold a receipt showing the pay¬ 
ment of his poll tax before the first day of February next preceding such 
election. Or if said voter shall have lost or misplaced said tax receipt 
he shall be entitled to vote upon making affidavit before any officer 
authorized to administer oaths, that such tax was actually paid by him 
and that said receipt has been lost. Such affidavit shall be made in 
writing and left with the judge of the election; provided, further, that 
at any election held only in a subdivision of a county for the purpose of 
determining any local question or proposition affecting only such sub- 



division of the county, then in addition to the foregoing qualifications 
the voter must have resided within said subdivision of the county for six 
months next preceding such election. 

Sec. 3 . All qualified electors of this State, as described in the fore¬ 
going sections, who shall have resided for six months immediately pre¬ 
ceding an election within the limits of any city or corporate town, shall 
have the right to vote for mayor and all other elective officers; but in all 
elections to determine the expenditure of money or assumption of debt, 
or issuance of bonds, only those shall be qualified to vote who pay taxes 
on property in such city or incorporated town; provided, that no poll 
tax for the payment of debts thus incurred shall be levied upon the per¬ 
sons debarred from voting in relation thereto. 

Sec. 4. The residence of a single man is where he usually sleeps at 
night; that of a married man is where his wife resides, or if he be per¬ 
manently separated from his wife, his residence is where he sleeps at 
night; provided, that the residence of one who is an inmate or officer of 
a public asylum or eleemosynary institution, or who is employed as a 
clerk in one of the Departments of Government at the Capital of this 
State, unless such clerk has become a bona fide resident of Travis 
County, Texas, or who is a student of a college or university, shall be 
construed to be where his home was before he became such inmate, or 
officer in such eleemosynary institution or asylum, or was employed as 
such clerk or became such student; and if on payment of his poll tax he 
would be a qualified voter he shall be permitted to return during the 
month of January in each year to his home to pay his poll tax, or obtain 
his certificate of exemption, and shall be permitted to return again to 
his home to vote at any general election; provided that an inmate of the 
Confederate Home is hereby declared a citizen of Travis County, Texas, 
and shall be entitled to vote under this act, if possessing all other quali¬ 
fications. 

Sec. 5. In all elections by the people, the vote shall be by official bal¬ 
lot, and tickets shall be so numbered and elections so guarded and con¬ 
ducted as to detect fraud and preserve the purity of the ballot box. 
Nothing herein contained shall be construed to prevent the registration 
of voters in all cities containing a population of ten thousand inhabi¬ 
tants or more; provided, that no one shall vote at elections where regis¬ 
tration of voters is required, except those qualified to vote under the pro¬ 
visions of this act, and all the provisions of this act which regulate hold¬ 
ing of elections and voting shall be observed in all elections in cities. 

Sec. 6. In all cases, except treason, felony, or breach of the peace, 
voters shall be privileged from arrest during their attendance at elec¬ 
tions, and in going to and returning therefrom. 

Sec. 7. A general election shall be held on the first Tuesday after the 
first Monday in November, A. D. 1904, and every two years thereafter, 
at such places as may be prescribed by law. 

Sec. 8. Special elections shall be held at such times and places as 
may be fixed by law providing therefor. 

Sec. 9. The poll tax required by the Constitution and laws in force 
shall be collected from every male person between the ages of twenty-one 
and sixty years who resides within this State on the first day of January 
preceding its payment; Indians not taxed, persons insane, blind, deaf 
and dumb, and those who have lost a hand or foot, excepted, which tax 


3— 


shall be collected, and accounted for by the tex collector each year, and 
appropriated as prescribed by law. 

Sec. 10. All elections shall be held for one day only. 

Sec. 11. The county commissioners court of each county shall at a 
term of their court to be held in August, A. D. 1903, and may if they 
deem it necessary, every two years thereafter, divide their respective 
counties into convenient election districts, each of which shall be differ¬ 
ently numbered and described by means of natural or artificial bound¬ 
aries or survey lines or otherwise sufficiently for identification by an 
order to be entered upon their minutes, and immediately thereafter pub¬ 
lish in some newspaper of the county, or if there be none published 
therein, then posted at three public places in the county, one of which 
shall be at the court house door. No election precinct shall be formed 
out of two or more justices precincts, or out of parts of two or more jus¬ 
tices precincts. They shall also in the month of February following, 
appoint from among the qualified voters of each election precinct two 
reputable citizens as judges of the election for that election precinct, 
who shall continue to act as such for two years and until their respective 
successors are appointed, and one of whom shall be designated as the 
presiding judge. 

Sec. 12. The poll taxes required by law to be paid may be paid at 
any time between the first of October and first day of February follow¬ 
ing, and the citizen shall be entitled to his poll tax receipt, even if his 
other taxes are not then paid. 

Sec. 13. In every precinct at which one hundred votes were cast at 
the last general election, the county commissioners court shall appoint 
two additional judges of election. Two judges in such precinct shall 
act in receiving and depositing the votes, and two in canvassing and 
counting the same. The clerk of the county court shall make out and 
certify to the order of the court appointing election judges, which shall 
be at once served by the sheriff on the judges respectively. 

Sec. 14, At each general or special election the polls shall be open 
from eight o’ clock in the morning till six o’clock in the afternoon. 

Sec. 15. The commissioners court, in establishing new election pre¬ 
cincts, shall divide any city or town into as many .election precincts as 
they think proper, none of which shall have resident therein more than 
seven hundred and fifty voters, as ascertained by the vote of the last pre¬ 
ceding general, city or town election. Each ward in every incorporated 
city, town or village, shall constitute an election precinct, unless there 
shall have been cast in said ward at the last general, city or town elec¬ 
tion held therein more than seven hundred and fifty votes, in which 
case said ward shall be divided into as many voting precincts as may be 
necessary to provide that each precinct shall not include the residence of 
more than seven hundred and fifty voters. Towns and villages, incor¬ 
porated in accordance with Chapter 11, Title XVIII, of the Revised 
Civil Statutes of 1895, and cities and towns incorporated under Chapter 
1, Title XVIII, Revised Statutes 1895, shall not necessarily constitute 
separate election precincts. 

Sec. 16. The poll tax due from citizens of unorganized counties 
shall be paid in the county to which such unorganized county is attached 
for judicial purposes. 

Sec. 17. The county commissioners court shall cause to be provided 


4- 


and deliverd to the county collector of taxes, before the first day of 
October, A. D. 1903, and annually thereafter, a certified copy of their 
last order fixing the limits and designating the number and name of 
each voting precinct in the county for the year following. They shall 
also cause to be furnished to the tax collector one set of poll tax receipt 
books, numbered No. 1, to contain one book for each voting precinct in 
the county; and in counties in which there is situated a city of more 
than 10,000 inhabitants they shall cause to be furnished poll tax receipt 
books, numbered No. 2, to contain one book for each voting precinct in 
such city. 

Sec. 18. Poll tax receipt books No. 1 shall contain at least seven 
hundred and fifty sets of blank poll tax receipts, except for those voting 
precincts located in cities of ten thousand inhabitants or more, the books 
for which shall contain at least seven hundred and fifty sets of blank 
poll tax receipts and poll tax certificates of exemption in the form here¬ 
inafter prescribed in this act for each. In books No 1, the blank poll 
tax receipts and blank certificates of exemption (if any) shall be in 
duplicate; each set shall be numbered in duplicate from one on consecu¬ 
tively ; one of which shall remain in the book and its. duplicate shall be 
detached and delivered to the citizen who pays his tax, or receives his 
certificate of exemption to serve him in voting. 

Sec. 19. Poll* tax receipt books No. 2 shall contain only single blank 
receipts, or for precincts in cities of ten thousand inhabitants or more, 
such receipts and certificates of exemption, which shall be filled out by 
the tax collector by copying exactly the receipts and certificates (if any) 
duplicates of which have been issued to electors from books No. 1; after 
which it shall be deposited with the county judge before the first of 
March, properly certified as correct. In each poll tax receipt book for 
precincts in cities of ten thousand inhabitants or more there shall be 
eight times as many blank poll tax receipts as there are blank certificates 
of exemptipn. 

Sec. 20. The county commissioners court shall cause to be prepared 
and delivered to the tax collector, two additional books of single blank 
poll tax receipts or for precincts requiring them, of such receipts and 
blank certificates of exemption before the first day of March of each 
year, for each precinct. Each set before being returned to the county 
clerk shall contain exact copies of the poll tax receipts, and poll tax 
certificates of exemption (if any) issued for the precinct for which it is 
intended before the first day of February, giving the number of each 
receipt and certificate as it appears in book No. 1. The two sets of poll 
tax receipt rolls are for use of precinct officers in conducting primary 
and general elections. The tax collector shall promptly fill the blanks 
as above required in the rolls received by him, and after certifying to 
the correctness of each shall deposit them with the county clerk before 
the first day of April, who shall receipt therefor. 

Sec. 21. On the first day of April in each year the tax collector shall 
return all the blank poll tax receipts and blank exemption certificates 
not used in No. 1, to the county commissioners court, who shall at once 
bum the same, after ascertaining that all the blanks not legally used 
have been returned. 

Sec. 22. Each poll tax receipt shall bear on its face the name of the 
party for whom it was issued, the payment of the tax, the residence of 



—5- 


the party, his age, his race, the length of time he has resided in Texas, 
the length of time he has resided in the county, the voting precinct in 
which he lives, his occupation, if he lives in an incorporated city or town, 
the ward and street and number of his residence, and the length of time 
he has resided in such city or town. In all cases where the voter resides 
in a city of ten thousand inhabitants or more the tax must be paid in 
person by the owner of the receipt. If the owner does not reside within 
a city of ten thousand inhabitants or more, his poll tax must either be 
paid by him in person or by some one by him duly authorized in writing 
to pay the same, and to furnish the collector the information necessary 
to fill out the blanks in the poll tax receipts. Where the poll tax is 
paid by an agent the collector shall retain on file the written authority 
of the agent and shall note on the receipt and on all duplicates thereof 
made by him under the provisions of this act, the fact that the same 
was paid by an agent, and the name of such agent. But in no event 
shall any candidate for office, nor any one who is actively espousing the 
cause of any candidate for office, be allowed to pay any poll tax for an¬ 
other, and any person violating any of the provisions of this section shall 
be guilty of a felony, and upon conviction shall be punished by confine¬ 
ment in the penitentiary for a term of not less than two nor more than 
five years. 

Sec. 23. In all counties containing a city of ten thousand inhabi¬ 
tants or more, other than the county site of such county, it shall be the 
duty of the collector to>have a duly authorized deputy represent him for 
the purpose of accepting poll taxes and giving receipts therefor, who 
shall keep his office for such purpose at some convenient place in such 
city during the entire month of January of each year, and he shall pub¬ 
lish four weeks 5 notice of the location of the office of such deputy. 

Sec. 24. The poll tax receipt shall be in the following form: 

No. 

State of Texas, County of . 

Poll Tax Receipt for.A. D. 

Received of.on the.day of. 

A. D. 190.... the sum of.Dollars, in 

payment of poll tax for the year A. D. 190. 

The said.being duly sworn by me, says 

that he is.. . .years old, that he resides in voting precinct No. 

in.County; that his race is.; that he 

has resided in Texas.years, and in. 

county.years; that he is by occupation.; 

(If in an incorporated city or town a blank must be provided for the 
ward, street and number of residence, and the length of time he has 
resided in such city or town.) 

All of which I certify. 

(Seal.) Signed. 

Tax Collector.County, Texas. 

Sec. 25. Every person who is exempted by law from the payment 
of a poll tax and who is in other respects a qualified voter, who resides 
in any city of ten thousand inhabitants or more, shall, before the first 
day of February of the year in which he offers to vote, obtain from the 
tax collector of the county of his residence a certificate showing his 
exemption from the payment of a poll tax. Such exempt person shall, 





















— 6 — 


on oath, state his name, county of his residence, occupation, race, age, 
the length of time he has resided in Texas, the length of time he has 
resided in the county, the length of time he has resided in the city and 
the ward and voting precinct in which his residence is located and the 
ward and street and number of his residence. He shall also state the 
grounds on which he claims exemption from payment of a poll tax. 
Such certificate shall be executed in duplicate, the original of which shall 
remain in the poll tax book, to be retained by the collector in his office, 
and a copy shall be detached and deliverd, bearing its proper number, to 
the citizen in person to serve in identifying him in voting. Certificates 
of exemption for each precinct shall be numbered consecutively, begin¬ 
ning at one. They shall be of the following form: 

Certificate of Exemption from Poll Tax. 

Ho. 

State of Texas, County of. 

I,.Tax Collector for.County, 

Texas, do hereby certify that.personally appeared 

before me on the.A. D., and being sworn, 

says his name is.; that his occupation is 

.; that he has resided in Texas for.years; 

in.county for.and in the 

city of.for.; that he now resides 

in precinct Ho., in Ward Ho., on. 

street, and in house Ho.; that he is exempt from the pay¬ 
ment of a poll tax by reason of.; 

that he is a qualified voter under the Constitution and laws of Texas. 

(Seal.) Signed. 

Tax Collector.County, Texas. 

Sec. 26. Every person residing in a city of ten thousand inhabitants 
or more, not twenty-one years old until after the first day of February, 
but who will be twenty-one years old before the next general or special 
election for that year shall, before the first day of February of the year 
in which he first offers to vote, procure such certificate of exemption 
which shall specify the day in the current year when he shall reach the 
age of twenty-one years. , 

Sec. 27. Whenever the county collector shall have reason to believe 
that the citizen who has paid his poll tax or received his certificate of 
exemption has sworn falsely in obtaining the same, he shall report the 
facts to the next grand jury organized in the county. 

Sec. 28. If a citizen, after receiving his poll tax receipt or certificate 
of exemption, removes to another precinct in the same county before the 
next succeeding election, he may vote at any general election in the pre¬ 
cinct of his new residence by presenting his poll tax receipt or certificate 
of exemption to the precinct election judges, or by making due affidavit. 

Sec. 29. If a citizen, after receiving his poll tax receipt or certificate 
of exemption, removes to another county he may vote at an election in 
the precinct of his new residence in such other county by presenting his 
poll tax receipt or certificate of exemption or his written affidavit of the 
loss of his poll tax receipt to the precinct election judges of election, 
that he is the identical person described in such poll tax receipt or 






















—7— 


exemption certificate, and that he then resides in the precinct where he 
offers to vote and has resided for the last six months in the district or 
county in which he offers to vote; but he shall not be allowed to vote for 
county or precinct officers, or in any special or local election confined to 
the limits of such precinct, unless he shall have resided for the last six 
months within the county in which he offers to vote. 

Sec. 30. If the county collector does not personally know one who 
applies to pay his poll tax or procure his certificate of exemption from 
its payment as being a resident in the precinct which such person claims 
as that of his residence, it shall be the duty of such collector to require 
proof of such residence, and if he has reason to believe that such person 
has falsely stated his age, occupation, precinct of his residence, or the 
length of his residence in the State and county, he shall require proof of 
such statement, and if on inquiry he is satisfied that said person has 
sworn falsely, he shall make a memorandum of the words used in such 
false statement and present the same to the foreman of the next grand 
jury. 

Sec. 31. The county commissioners court shall furnish, five days 
before each election, and cause to be delivered in each precinct to the 
presiding judge of election, all necessary paper, polling lists, tally sheets, 
blank forms, ink, stationery, sealing wax, mucilage and wooden or rub¬ 
ber stamps required for the proper conduct of the election, all of which 
shall be paid for by the county. 

Sec. 32. Precinct judges at all general elections shall be served with 
a copy of the order designating the number, name and bounds of the elec¬ 
tion precincts, and of their appointment as judges. Such service shall 
be made by the sheriff or the constable within ten days after the entry 
of such order, and return shall be made thereof on a copy showing how 
he executed the same. 

Sec. 33. If a presiding officer fails to attend on eletcion day, or fails 
to act, or none shall have been appointed, the voters present may appoint 
their own presiding officer who has paid his poll tax, and such voters 
may also appoint the necessary assistant judges of election. When a 
presiding officer who has been appointed by the commissioners court fails 
to act in conducting an election, and one is selected by the voters present, 
the judges and clerks at such election shall, in making their returns of 
election, certify to that fact, and state that the acting judges were ap¬ 
pointed by the voters present. 

Sec. 34. In precincts where one hundred or more votes were cast at 
the last general election there shall be a presiding judge and three assist¬ 
ant judges of election, each of whom must have paid his poll tax, if not 
legally exempt. Such judges must reside in the voting precinct. The 
presiding officer shall also appoint two clerks of election, and more if 
needed. The judges of election and the clerks shall conduct the elec¬ 
tion. 

Sec. 35. In precincts where more than one hundred votes were cast 
in the last election for Governor, the presiding judge, before the ballot¬ 
ing begins, shall select two judges to be counting judges; the presiding 
judge and the remaining judge shall be the receiving judges of election. 
The presiding judge shall designate two of said clerks to be canvassing 
clerks of election and two to assist in keeping poll lists, poll tax receipt 


— 8 — 


rolls and exemption certificate rolls. The canvassing clerks shall keep 
tally lists of votes counted. 

Sec. 36. The presiding judge and the associate judges of election 
and the clerks shall be paid for their services two dollars per day each. 
One of the judges shall deliver the returns of election, poll tax rolls and 
exemption certificate rolls, with all stationery/rubber stamps and blank 
forms not used, to the county judge immediately after the votes have 
been counted. He shall receive two dollars for such delivery, but no 
compensation shall be made for the delivery if the polling place be 
within two miles of the county clerk’s office. 

Sec. 37. Judges of election and clerks of election are authorized to 
administer oaths, to ascertain all facts necessary to a fair and impartial 
election. The presiding judge of election while in the discharge of his 
duties as such shall have the power of a district judge to preserve order 
and keep the peace. He may appoint special peace officers to act as such 
during the election, and may issue warrants of arrest for felony or breach 
of the peace committed at such election, directed to the sheriff or any 
constable of the county, or such special peace officers, who shall forth¬ 
with execute any such warrants, and, if so ordered by the presiding 
judge, commit the party arrested to jail during the election or until the 
day after the election, when his case may be examined into before some 
magistrate to whom the presiding judge shall report it; but the party 
arrested shall first be permitted to vote, if entitled to do so. 

ORDERING ELECTIONS. 

Sec. 38. Notice shall be given to the people of all elections for State 
and district officers, electors for President and Vice-President of the 
United States, members of Congress, members of the Legislature, and of 
all officers which are elective every two years. Such notice shall be by 
proclamation of the Governor ordering the election, and published in 
such newspapers as shall be determined upon by the Governor of the 
State of Texas, not exceeding twenty, and at least sixty days before the 
election. But if a failure from any cause shall occur, such failure shall 
not invalidate the election, if held at the time prescribed by law, and if 
otherwise regular. 

Sec. 39. The county judge, or if his office be vacant, or if he fails to 
act, then two of the county commissioners, shall order elections for county 
and precinct officers and all other elections which under the law the 
county judge may be authorized to order. The county judge or the 
county commissioners, as the case may be, shall issue writs of election, 
ordered by him or them, in which shall be stated the office or offices to 
be filled by the election, or the question to be voted on, or both, as the case 
may be, and the day of the election, and a copy of the forms of election 
returns, furnished by the Secretary of State, shall accompany each writ. 

Sec. 40. Forms of election notices, official ballots, writs, and election 
returns shall be prescribed by the Secretary of State to the county judge 
of each county at least thirty days before the general election. He shall 
also prescribe forms of tally sheets, polling lists, blank forms of instruc¬ 
tion cards to voters, forms of sample ballots, and all other forms neces¬ 
sary to conducting an election. 

Sec. 41. Twenty days’ notice of every election ordered shall be given 
by notices posted up at the places of holding elections in each election 


—9— 


precinct, which shall state the time of holding the election, the offices to 
be filled, and the question to he voted on, or both, as the case may be, 
except as herein otherwise provided. 

Sec. 42. The county judge, or if he fails to, then two county commis¬ 
sioners, shall cause notices of a general election and of a special election 
to be published in a newspaper of the countjq if there be one, if not, by 
posting notice of election at each precinct twenty days before the elec¬ 
tion ; provided, that if a vacancy occurs in the State Senate or House of 
Representatives during a session of the Legislature, or within ten days 
before it convenes, then ten days’ notice of a special election to fill such 
vacancy shall be sufficient notice. 

Sec. 43. Election returns of final elections shall be made under exist¬ 
ing laws contained in Articles 1743 to 1749, inclusive, and Articles 1753 
to 1756, inclusive, of the Revised Statutes of Texas of 1895, except as 
herein otherwise provided. 

Sec. 44. In all city, town and village elections, the mayor, or if he 
fails to, then the board of aldermen, shall- order elections pertaining 
alone to municipal affairs, give notice and appoint election officers to hold 
the election, and make returns to the mayor, unless a different method 
be prescribed by the charter of such city, town or village. 

VOTING PLACES AND GUARD RAILS. 

Sec. 45. The county commissioners court shall furnish for each vot¬ 
ing precinct in towns or cities of five thousand inhabitants, or more, as 
many sets of voting booths as there are political parties holding primary 
elections, and a set of voting booths shall be furnished each political 
party for each voting precinct in said town or city for primary elections, 
but at all elections other than primary there shall be but one set of 
voting booths provided for all parties. There shall be one booth for 
every seventy citizens who at the last general election have paid their poll 
tax or who hold certificates of exemption from its payment and who 
reside in the voting precinct. Each polling place shall be provided with 
a guard rail, so constructed and placed that only such persons as are 
inside of such guard rail can approach the ballot boxes or compartments, 
or booths, at which the voters are to prepare their votes in voting, and 
that no person outside of the guard rail can approach nearer than six 
feet of the voting booths. The arrangement shall be such that neither 
the ballot boxes nor voting booths nor the voters, while preparing their 
ballots, shall be hidden from view of those just outside of the guard rail, 
or from the judges; and yet the same shall be far enough removed and 
so arranged that the voter may conveniently prepare his ballot in secrecy 
for voting. There shall be provided in each polling place such voting 
booths with three sides closed and the front side open. Each booth shall 
be thirty-two inches wide on the inside. thirty-two inches deep, and six 
feet and four inches high, and shall contain a shelf for convenience of 
the voter in preparing his ballot, and the booth shall be so constructed 
with hinges that it can be folded up for storage when not in use. The 
county judge, county clerk and sheriff shall constitute a board, a major¬ 
ity of whom may act, to provide the voting booths or compartments and 
guard rails, required by this act, for each voting precinct. Said board 
shall file with the county commissioners court a written statement of 
their action and of their expenses in detail, incurred in providing such 


— 10 - 


voting booths. They shall also provide stationery pencils, and rubber 
or wooden stamps, hereafter referred to, and all things needed for the 
election, which they shall also report to the commissioners court. It 
shall be the duty of such court to draw a warrant in favor of the parties 
to whom such accounts are due for the amounts thereof. 

Sec. 46. During the election and the counting of the ballots no per¬ 
son other than the judges and clerks of the election and the voters herein 
provided for, for the purpose of procuring their ballots and voting, shall 
be permitted to be within the room in which the election is held, or the 
booth in which the ballot is prepared, and one thus offending shall on 
conviction be guilty of a misdemeanor and fined in any court of compe¬ 
tent jurisdiction in any sum not to exceed $100. And be it further pro¬ 
vided, that any judge or assistant judge of the election, clerk or other 
person officially connected with the holding of an election, who may indi¬ 
cate by sign, symbol, writing, or communicate to any person whomso¬ 
ever, as to what picket, or how any person has voted, shall be guilty of a 
misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be fined not less than 
one hundred nor more than five hundred dollars, and imprisoned not 
less than ten nor more than thirty days. 

Sec. 47. The shelf in each voting booth shall be at least one foot 
wide, extending across one side of the booth, at a convenient height for 
writing, and shall be furnished with such supplies, including pencils of 
black lead only, as will enable the voters to conveniently prepare their 
ballots for voting. Each booth shall be properly lighted while the polls 
are open. 

Sec. 48. Every guard rail shall be provided with a place for entrance 
and exit. The arrangement of the polling place shall be such that the 
booths can only be reached by passing within the guard rail, and the 
booths, ballot boxes, election officers, and every part of the polling place, 
except the inside of the booths, shall be in plain view of the election offi¬ 
cers and persons just outside of the guard rail. 

Sec. 49. The voting booths shall be so arranged that there shall be 
no access to them through any door, window or opening, except by the 
front opening of the booths. 

Sec. 50. Not more than one person at one time shall be permitted to 
occupy any one compartment or voting booth, except when a voter is una¬ 
ble to prepare his ballot, two judges shall assist him, they having first 
been sworn that they will not suggest by word or sign or gesture how the 
voter shall vote; that they will confine their assistance to answering his 
questions, to naming the candidates, and the political parties to which 
they belong, and that they will prepare his ballot as the voter shall him¬ 
self direct. The judges who assist the voter in preparing his ballot 
shall be of different political parties, if there be such judges present. 

Sec. 51. Booths shall only be required in towns of five thousand 
inhabitants. 

OPENING THE POLLS. 

Sec. 52. The judges of election, poll clerks and ballot clerks, for 
each precinct, shall meet at the polling place at least a half of an hour 
before the time for opening the polls at each election precinct for which 
official ballots are required, and shall proceed to arrange the guard rails, 
the space within the guard rails, and the furniture, including the voting 
booths, for the orderly and legal conduct of the election. The judges 


I 


— 11 — 

of election shall then examine the ballot boxes required for the reception 
of ballots, and the blank official ballots* and shall deposit such ballots as 
are found to be defective in printing in ballot box No. 4, for mutilated 
or returned ballots. They shall also examine the sample ballots, instruc¬ 
tion cards, distance markers, poll tax books or rolls, and poll tax exemp¬ 
tion books or rolls, tally sheets, return sheets, rubber or wooden stamps, 
and all stationery required by them for such election. The instruction 
cards shall be posted conspicuously in each of the voting booths. The 
package of official ballots shall remain in the custody of the judges and 
polling clerks. The judges shall cause to be placed at the distance of one 
hundred feet from the polling place visible markers in each direction of 
approaches to the polls, which are designated as distance markers, to pro¬ 
hibit electioneering or loitering within one hundred feet of the polling 
place. They shall examine the ballot boxes, and then relock them, after 
all present can see they are empty. The instruction cards and distance 
markers shall be posted up and shall not be defaced or removed during 
the progress of the election. The ballot clerks, with the official ballots, 
the presiding officer of the election* and the judges, and the poll clerks 
with their poll books, and the poll tax receipt book, or roll, and exemp¬ 
tion book, or roll, shall be as conveniently near each other as practicable, 
within the polling place. 

Sec. 53. Before opening the polls the presiding judge of election 
•shall in an audible voice take the following oath or affirmation, which 
shall be uttered slowly and distinctly, and each of the other judges and 
clerks shall repeat the same after him: 

“I solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will not in any manner request 
or seek to persuade or induce any voter to vote for or against any par¬ 
ticular candidate or candidates, or for or against any proposition to be 
voted on; that I will not keep or.make any memoranda or entry of any¬ 
thing occurring within the booths, nor disclse how any one whom I am 
permitted to assist in voting, has voted, except I be called on to testify 
in a judicial proceeding; and that I will attempt faithfully to perform 
this day my duty as officer of the election, and guard, as far as I am 
-able, the purity of the ballot box. So help me God.” 

VOTING AT ELECTIONS. 

Sec. 54. In all elections by the people, the vote shall be only by 
official ballot* either written or printed, or written in part and printed 
in part, which shall be cast only by those who present to the election 
judges their poll tax receipt or certificate of exemption from poll tax, 
dated before the first day of February preceding the election, made out 
and signed in accordance with law by the county tax collector of the 
county of their residence, or by those who file their written affidavit with 
the election judges (who shall keep the same) that such poll tax receipt 
•or certificate of exemption from poll tax had been properly made out by 
the tax collector and delivered to them, but that the same had been lost 
or mislaid; provided, that those who are by law exempt from the pay¬ 
ment of a poll tax, and who do not reside in a city of ten thousand 
inhabitants or more, shall not be required to obtain or present said cer¬ 
tificates of exemption. 

Sec. 55. For each election precinct the county commissioners court 
•.shall provide four ballot boxes, to be marked as follows: “Ballot Box No. 


— 12 — 


1, for Election Precinct No....;” “Ballot Box No. 2, for Election Pre¬ 
cinct No....;” “Ballot Box No. 3, for Election Precinct No....;” 
“Ballot Box No. 4, for Election Precinct No.” 

Sec. 56. In ballot box No. 4 shall be deposited, in addition to ballots 
defectively printed, all defaced and mutilated ballots, and all ballots 
given to voters and by them returned to the judges unused, and, when 
the polls are closed, all the ballots that have not been voted. The box 
shall be locked, and so returned, sealed, to the county clerk, with a 
statement which shall be placed therein, signed by the presiding judge, 
of the number of the ballots received by him, the number of mutilated or 
defaced ballots that the box contains, and also the number of ballots not 
given to voters and those given to voters and returned unused, and of 
those defectively printed, so that after adding such numbers, all ballots 
delivered to the election officers may be accounted for. Such box shall, 
when the returns of votes cast are canvassed by the commissioners court, 
be opened by them and counted, and a record shall be made by them 
of what they have found to be its contents. 

Sec. 57. Before the balloting begins the presiding judge shall unlock 
ballot box No. 1, and,' after all the managers of the election have in¬ 
spected the same to see that it is empty, relock it, and place it where it 
shall remain until removed to make way for Ballot Box No. 2. A like- 
examination shall be made of Ballot Box No. 2. All the boxes shall be 
securely made of metal or wood, provided with a top, hinges, lock and 
key, and an opening shall be made in the top just large enough to receive 
a ballot when polled. 

Sec. 58. The official ballot to be used in elections must be of uniform 
style, to be furnished by the cotinty clerk, unless from any cause those 
furnished should be exhausted or not delivered, when the voters may 
prepare their own ballots, after the style of the sample ballots herein 
provided for. Before the election begins four instruction cards shall be 
posted up one hundred feet from the polling place, in addition to those 
required for voting booths. The form of instruction c&rds shall be pre¬ 
scribed by the Secretary of State, and furnished twenty days before each 
general election to all county clerks. At the top of each official ballot 
the words “Official Ballot” shall be printed in large letters. All official 
ballots shall contain the names of all the candidates whose nominations 
for any office specified on the ballot have been duly made out and not 
withdrawn, as provided by this act, and the title of the office shall be 
properly stated. 

Sec. 59. At elections for school district officers, or school officers of 
a city, town or village, at which no other officer is to be elected, and 
election of officers of fire departments, any ballot may be used, prescribed 
by local authorities. 

Sec. 60. The package of official ballots, which shall be sealed up by 
the county clerk, and delivered to the election judge, shall contain two 
and one-half times as many of each ballot as there were votes for Gov¬ 
ernor in the precinct at the last general election. The number so deliv¬ 
ered shall be entered of record, and marked on the package. Instruction 
cards shall also be enclosed, sealed up and delivered with the official 
ballots, together with poll lists, tally sheets and returning blanks. There 
shall also be delivered at the same time proper rubber or other stamps, 
black lead pencils, mucilage and sealing wax, with a certified poll tax 



-13- 


roll of those citizens of the precinct who, before the first day of Feb¬ 
ruary last preceding, paid their poll tax, and of those who received their 
certificates of exemption from its payment, all of which shall be securely 
sealed, and an endorsement made on the package, showing its contents. 
Poll tax and exemption books or rolls need not be sent to the election 
judge of any precinct who is already in possession of same, properly 
certified. If from any cause ballot boxes, or voting booths and guard 
rails have not been furnished to the presiding judge, he shall procure 
them and receive pay therefor. 

Sec. 61. One of the election judges shall receive from the voter the 
poll tax receipt or certificate of exemption when he presents himself to 
vote; the voter shall announce his name, and the judge, after comparing 
the appearance of the party with that given in the poll tax rolls or cer¬ 
tificate of exemption rolls and being satisfied that the certificate or 
receipt is the duplicate in number and in other respects accords with the 
receipt or certificate number on the poll tax or exemption rolls, shall pro¬ 
nounce in an audible voice the name of the voter and his number as given 
on the poll tax receipts or exemption rolls. If the voter has lost his 
receipt or certificate, and shall present his written affidavit to that fact, 
and if his appearance tallies with that given for the same number and 
name on the poll tax receipt or certificate rolls, and the judges of elec¬ 
tion shall be satisfied that he paid his poll tax or received his certificate 
of exemption before the first day of the preceding February, the judge 
shall in like manner pronounce in an audible voice the name and num¬ 
ber of the elector on the poll tax or exemption rolls, with the word 
“correct.” 

Sec. 62. If from any cause the judges of election shall be satisfied 
that the poll tax receipt or certificate of exemption was not issued by the 
county collector, or was not issued for the elector who has presented the 
same, or that the affidavit presented by the elector is not true, or that 
since his certificate or receipt was issued he has removed from the pre¬ 
cinct or voting ward to another in the same county, and not obtained 
a correct receipt or certificate, no ballot shall be delivered to him, and 
he shall not vote. 

Sec. 63. When the judges are satisfied as to the right of the citizen 
to vote, and one has pronounced in an audible voice his name and the 
number of his poll tax receipt or certificate of exemption, and the word 
“correct,” the judge shall stamp in legible characters, with a stamp of 
wood or rubber, said poll tax receipt or certificate with the words “voted 

... .day... .A. D.,” or write the same words in ink (showing 

date of voting), and then return said receipt or certificate to the voter, 
and shall at the same time deliver to him one of each of the official bal¬ 
lots upon the blank side of each of which the presiding judge shall have 
previously written his signature. The voter shall then immediately 
repair to one of the voting booths, or place prepared by the election offi¬ 
cers, and select the ballot he desires to vote and prepare the same by 
striking out the name of any candidate thereon whom he does not desire 
to vote for, and inserting the name of his choice underneath. 

Sec. 64. When he shall have prepared his ballot he shall fold the 
same so as to conceal the printing thereon and so as to expose the signa¬ 
ture of the presiding judge on the blank side, and he shall also fold each 
of the ballots he does not desire to vote in the same manner, and shall, 


—14— 


alter leaving the booth, hand to the numbering judge the ballot he 
desires to vote, who shall number the same. He shall at the same time 
hand to another judge the ballot or ballots he does not desire to vote, so 
folded as to conceal the names, which shall be by such judge deposited 
in ballot box No. 4. If both the said judges are satisfied that all official 
ballots given the voter have been by him returned and accounted for, 
and if those returned are identified as the same just delivered to him, 
the numbering judge shall number the ballot given him by the voter, 
writing on the blank side the number opposite the voters name on the 
voting list, and shall stamp or write the same with the word “voted,” 
and deposit his ballot in the ballot box. The other judge shall thereupon 
deposit the ballots, if any, returned unused by the voter in the ballot 
box No. 4. The letter “V” shall at the same time be marked by one of 
the clerks on the poll tax receipt or exemption roll opposite the name of 
the elector thereon, and the voter shall immediately leave the polling 
place. 

Sec. 65. Any judge may require a citizen to answer under oath 
before he secures an official ballot whether he has been furnished with 
^any paper or ballot on which is marked the names of those for whom he 
-has agreed or proposed to vote, or has such paper or marked ballot in his 
possession, and he shall not be furnished with an official ballot until he 
nas delivered to the judge such marked ballot or paper, if he has one, 
which, on delivery, shall without examination be destroyed by the judge. 

Sec. 66. At the expiration of one hour after voting has begun the 
receiving judge shall deliver ballot box No. 1 to the counting judge, who 
shall at on'ce deliver in its place ballot box No. 2, which shall again be 
opened and examined in the presence of all the judges, and securely 
closed and locked; and until the ballots in ballot box No. 1 have been 
counted, the receiving judge shall receive and deposit ballots in ballot- 
box No. 2. Ballot box No. 1 shall, at its receipt by the counting judge, 
be immediately opened, and the tickets taken out by him, one by one, 
when he shall read and distinctly announce, while the ticket remains in 
his hand, the name or names of each candidate voted for thereon, which 
shall be noted on the tally sheets, and shall then deliver the ballot to the 
other counting judge, who shall place the same in box No. 3, which shall 
remain locked and in view until the counting is finished, when said box 
shall be returned with the other boxes, locked and sealed, to the county 
clerk. Ballot boxes Nos. 1 and 2 shall be used by the receiving judge 
and the counting judge alternately, as above provided, as often as the 
counting judge has counted and exhausted the ballots in either box. 

Sec. 67. At each change of the boxes, one of the judges shall 
announce at the outer door of the voting place the number of votes 
already cast. 

Sec. 68. No voter shall be entitled to receive a new ballot in lieu of 
one mutilated or defaced until he first returns such ballot and it is 
deposited in box No. 4, nor shall any one be supplied with more than 
three ballots in lieu of those mutilated or defaced. A register shall be 
kept by the clerks as the voting progresses of the mutilated or defaced 
ballots, which shall be deposited in box No. 4, in which also shall be 
returned all official ballots not voted. 

Sec. 69. From the time of opening of the polls until the announce¬ 
ment of the results of the canvass of votes cast and the signing of the 
official returns, the boxes and all official ballots shall be kept at the poll- 


—15— 


ing place in the presnece of one or more of the judges. No person shall 
be admitted within the room where the election is being conducted, 
except the election judges, clerks, persons admitted by the presiding 
judge to preserve order, and persons admitted for the purpose of voting. 
No judge or clerk shall make any statement nor give information in any 
manner of the number of votes nor any other fact regarding their opin¬ 
ion of the state of polls until after the closing thereof, except as herein 
permitted. 

Sec. 70. Tw t o clerks shall each keep a poll list, upon which they shall 
write the name and number of each person who votes and at the time of 
his voting. 

Sec. 71. No officer of election shall unfold or examine the face of a 
ballot when received from an elector, nor the endorsement on the ballot, 
except .the signature of the judge, or the words stamped thereon, nor 
compare it with the clerks’ list of voters, when the ballots are counted, 
nor shall he permit the same to be done, nor shall he examine, or permit 
to be examined, the ballots after they are deposited in a ballot box, except 
as herein provided for in canvassing the votes, or in cases specially pro¬ 
vided by law. 

Sec. 72. The counting judges and clerks shall familiarize themselves 
with the signature of the judge who writes his name on the ballots and 
shall count no ballots that do not bear his signature, or if, on examina¬ 
tion by the judges, such signature is found to be a forgery. 

Sec. 73. If the officers of election need refreshment during the 
voting and before the canvass of votes, it shall be taken at the polling 
place and in view of the ballot boxes, provided that the refreshments, 
if liquid, be not stronger than coffee. 

Sec. 74. No ballot which bears the name of a candidate pasted over 
the name of another candidate shall be counted for the name so pasted. 
At the close of the canvassing and during its progress the tally clerks 
shall compare their tally lists, and at the close of the canvass certify 
officially of their correctness. 

Sec. 75. Official ballots shall be provided by the commissioners court 
at each polling place for every election at which public officers are to be 
elected by the people and for all primary elections of political parties 
which nominate by primary election, and no other shall be used, pro¬ 
vided that the same name shall not appear on more than one ballot, nor 
shall the same name appear more than once on any one ballot or ticket. 

THE OFFICIAL BALLOT. 

Sec. 76. There shall be one official ballot for each political party law¬ 
fully nominating candidates for office to be voted for at each general 
or special election in each county, or city, or town, and the expense of 
printing all such official ballots shall be paid by the proper committee 
or person filing the certificate of nomination of each party or body mak¬ 
ing nominations when such certificate is filed. The term “primary elec¬ 
tion,” as used in this act means any election held by the members of any 
political party for the purpose of selecting candidates of such party to 
be voted for at any general or special election held under the laws of 
this State. The term “primary convention” means any convention or 
mass meeting held in the voting precincts of any county by the members 
of any political party for the purpose aforesaid; provided, that no name 


— 16 — 


shall be placed on the official ballot of the general or special election 
unless the nominees of the party have been selected according to this 
act. 

Sec. 77. The official ballot of each political party shall contain the 
names of all the candidates whose nominations for elective office have 
been duly made by such party and not withdrawn, together with the title 
of the political party, as certified in the certificate of nomination. 

Sec. 78. All ballots shall be printed with black ink on clear white 
book paper of sufficient thickness to prevent the markings thereon to be 
seen through the paper. There shall be printed at the top of each ballot 
the name of the party represented on the ballot, and under each the 
printed names of the candidates of such party and of the offices for which 
they are candidates. 

Sec. 79. The party name shall be printed in display, the name or 
designation of the office in brevier lower case, and the name of the can¬ 
didate in brevier capital type. The title of office, together with the 
name of the candidate therefor, shall be printed in a space one-half inch 
deep and at least two inches wide. Underneath the name of each can¬ 
didate there shall be a space wide enough for the insertion of a written 
name therein. 

Sec. 80. The consecutive numbering of the ballots shall begin with 
number one, increasing as the voting progresses in regular numerical 
order. 

Sec. 81. Whenever a constitutional amendment or other question 
submitted by the Legislature is to be voted on, the form in which it is 
submitted shall be prescribed by the Governor, and printed in enclosed 
heavy lines at the bottom of each ballot, described by this act. If a 
proposition or question is to be voted on by the people of any city, 
county, or other subdivision of the State, the form in which such propo¬ 
sition shall be voted on shall be prescribed by the local or municipal 
authority submitting it, but in all cases the evidence required by this act 
that the citizen has paid his poll tax, or received his certificate of exemp¬ 
tion, must be produced before he can be permitted to vote. 

PRIMARY ELECTIONS AND CONVENTIONS. 

Sec. 82. No vote shall be cast or counted in any primary election or 
primary convention unless the voter has paid his poll tax or obtained 
his certificate of exemption from its payment before the first day of 
February next preceding, which fact must be ascertained by the officers 
conducting the primary election or primary convention by an inspection 
of such poll tax receipt or certificate of exemption, nor shall he vote in 
any primary election or primary convention except in the voting precinct 
of his residence; provided, if such receipt or certificate be lost or mislaid, 
that fact must be sworn to by the written affidavit of the party offering 
to vote. 

Sec. 83. To guard against fraud, certified copies of the poll tax 
books or rolls and of the certificate of exemption books or rolls for the 
voting precinct shall be in the possession of the officers conducting the 
primary election for reference and comparison, and every poll tax receipt 
and certificate of exemption of a voter at a primary election shall be 
stamped when the vote is cast, with a rubber stamp, or written with pen 
and ink, with the words, “Primary—voted,” with date of such primary 


—17— 


underneath the same; provided, that this section shall not apply to towns 
and cities with a population of less than 10,000, in so far as it applies 
to certificates of exemption; and provided further, that the judges of the 
primary elections shall be qualified to administer oaths in regard to any 
matter coming up under said primary election. 

Sec. 84. The second Saturday in July, in the year A. D. 1904, and 
in every two years thereafter, shall be the legal primary election day, 
and primary elections and primary party conventions to nominate can¬ 
didates for a general election shall be held on no other day. Any politi¬ 
cal party may select a different day on which to hold a primary election 
or convention to select delegates to a State convention, held for the pur¬ 
pose of sending delegates to a National convention, and any political 
party may hold a second primary on the last Saturday in July to nomi¬ 
nate candidates where a majority vote is required to make a nomina¬ 
tion. The name of no candidate of any party that cast ten thousand 
votes at the previous election for Governor shall be printed on any offi¬ 
cial ballot unless he shall first have been nominated by primary election 
or convention, or if a candidate to be voted for in all the counties by 
a State convention, and except as herein provided. Nominations of 
candidates to be voted for at any special election shall be made at 
such time as the party executive committee shall determine; pro¬ 
vided, that all counties in any district shall act on the same day. 
Nominations of party candidates for offices to be filled in any city or 
town shall be made not less than twenty days prior to the city or 
town election at which they are to be chosen, in such manner as the 
party executive committee for such city or town shall direct, and if 
made by primary election, all the laws applying to county primary elec¬ 
tions shall apply to them; provided, any political party may permit or 
order the holding of any primary convention at such hour such party may 
deem advisable on said day. 

Sec. 85. Each political party shall determine for itself in each county 
whether it will nominate candidates for office by primary election or con¬ 
vention, and due notice of the method chosen by such party shall be given 
in writing to the countv judge by the chairman of the county executive 
committee at least twenty days before “primary election day,” which 
notice shall be entered of record. 

Sec. 86. The second Saturday in July, in 1904, and every two years 
thereafter, shall be known as “primary election day,” and on that all 
primary elections and conventions to nominate for county, district and 
precinct officers shall be held, and the name of no candidate shall be 
printed on the regular official ballot for a general election unless he was 
voted for and chosen on that day; provided, that in counties where no 
primary election or convention for county or precinct officers has been 
held by any political party, the names of all candidates for county and 
precinct offices shall be placed on the official ticket, but the various can¬ 
didates must name the ballot upon which he desires his name placed. 

Sec. 87. All county executive committees or county conventions of 
organized political parties shall meet the following Thursday after each 
primary election or convention, and every two years thereafter, to can¬ 
vass the result of the primary elections and conventions held on “pri¬ 
mary election day.” 

Sec. 88. All executive committees or conventions for a district. 


—18— 


assembled to canvass the votes at a primary election or convention for 
the counties of a district for a district office,, shall meet for such purpose 
on the fourth Saturday in July, 1904, and in each year of a general elec¬ 
tion thereafter, which day shall be known as “district Convention day.” 

Sec. 89. All party State conventions to nominate for Governor and 
State officers shall meet at such places as may be d-etermined by the 
parties respectively during the month of August, 1904, and every two 
years thereafter, on some day to be designated by their respective State 
executive committees, and they shall remain in session, if necessary, from 
day to day until all nominations are made. 

Sec. 90. The names of all candidates nominated by the State con¬ 
vention of any political party during the month of August shall then 
be certified to by the president and secretary of such convention to the 
Secretary of State, who shall notify all county clerks, and they shall be 
printed on the official ballot under direction of the county clerk. 

Sec. 91. The places of holding primary elections and primary con¬ 
ventions by a political party in the various precincts of the State shall 
not be within one hundred yards of the place at which such elections are 
conducted by a different political party. When the chairmen of the 
executive committees of different parties can not agree on the places 
where precinct primaries or conventions shall be held such places in each 
precinct shall be designated by the county judge, who shall cause public 
notice thereof to be given at once in some newspaper of the county. Such 
primary elections, when held, shall be in every election precinct as fixed 
by the commissioners court. 

Sec. 92. The chairman of the executive committee of each political 
party entitled to recognition on the official ballot shall give ten days’ 
notice before primary election day of the time and place in each precinct 
where primary elections of his party or primary conventions, as the 
case may be, will be held, and such notice should be published in some 
newspaper advocating the principles of the particular party, if there be 
one. 

Sec. 93. All precinct primary elections of a party shall be con¬ 
ducted by a presiding judge, to be appointed by the chairman of the 
county executive committee of the party. Such presiding judge shall 
select an associate judge and two clerks to assist in conducting the elec¬ 
tion, and two challengers may be chosen by the party candidates, if they 
can agree upon them, for each precinct. The presiding judge of the 
election and his associates, as well as the clerks, shall each take the oath 
required to be taken by the judges at general elections; provided, that 
two sets of judges and clerks may be allowed at all voting precincts 
where more than one hundred votes were cast at the last primary election 
or general election. 

Sec. 94. The vote in all primary elections shall be by official ballot, 
which shall have printed at the top thereof the name of the party, and 
under it the names of all candidates, those for each office being arranged 
in alphabetical order beneath the title of the office for which they are 
candidates. The voter shall erase or mark out all the names he does 
not wish to vote for; provided, that the county executive committee of 
the party holding any primary election may prescribe additional qualifi¬ 
cations necessary to participate therein. 

Sec. 95. The polls at primary elections shall be opened at eight 


—19- 


o’clock in the morning on primary election day, and closed at six o’clock 
in the afternoon of the same day. 

Sec. 96. Primary conventions may open and close on primary con¬ 
vention day at such times as may be determined by the county executive 
committee or its chairman. 

Sec. 97. The voting booths, ballot boxes and guard rails required 
for general elections shall be used by the various precincts for primary 
elections, as provided for in section 45 of this bill. The party executive 
committee of each county shall povide and furnish just such voting 
booths, guard rails and ballot boxes for the use at primary elections of 
the party that cast the next highest vote for Governor, together with 
printed ballots containing the names of all the candidates of such party, 
and all necessary writing materials and stamps, which shall be paid for 
by the candidates before such primary election. All ballot boxes, guard 
rails and voting booths, after being used in primary elections, shall be 
safely kept by order of the commissioners court for further use. 

Sec. 98. All returns of precinct elections properly signed and certi¬ 
fied as correct by the judges thereof, showing the vote cast for each can¬ 
didate, shall be sealed up and immediately delivered after such primary 
election to the chairman of the county executive committee of the party. 
Said chairman shall give notice to the members of the county executive 
committee of his party to assemble at the county site of the county 
on the first Saturday after said primary election, when said returns 
shall be opened in the presence of and under the direction of such execu¬ 
tive committee and canvassed by them. They shall then make a list of the 
candidates who have received the highest vote for each office, and the 
chairman of the executive committee shall certify to the same and deliver 
it to the county clerk of the county, who shall cause the names of such 
candidates who have received the highest vote to be printed on the 
official ballot of that party; provided, that when a candidate for Gov¬ 
ernor, or for offices to be filled by all the voters of the State, are voted 
for in a primary election, the chairman of the county executive commit¬ 
tee and its secretary shall certify the number of votes cast for each of 
such candidates, and cause the same to be published in some newspaper 
of the county (if there be one), and then deliver under seal to the 
president of the next State convention of the party, when he shall have 
been elected; provided, this section shall not prevent the holding of a 
county convention for the purpose of counting and declaring the result 
of the election. 

Sec. 99. Returns shall be made by the chairman of the county execu¬ 
tive committee in ten days after canvassing the primary vote of the 
county to the chairman of each district executive committee of the vote 
for the district candidates, and when the returns of each county compris¬ 
ing the district have been received by the charman of the district execu¬ 
tive committee and the result of the primary elections in the various 
counties of the district has been ascertained by the district executive com¬ 
mittee, the name of the candidate for that party in that district who has 
received the largest vote shall be placed by the county clerk of each 
county therein on the official ballot, after receiving notice from the 
chairman of the district of such result; provided, that the executive 
committee of any party for any such district may call a district conven¬ 
tion for the selection of nominees for district offices therein, the dele- 


— 20 — 


gates composing which shall be instructed by the county convention of 
their respective counties in accordance with the vote of the primary 
election held in each county, or such delegates may go uninstructed 
where no primary election has been held in their county. 

Sec. 100. The judges and clerks who serve at primary elections shall 
receive each such compensation as may be allowed by the county execu¬ 
tive committee for holding each primary and making out and delivering 
the returns of the same to the county chairman. 

Sec. 101. The same precautions required by law in general elections 
to secure the purity of the ballot in regard to the ballot boxes, method of 
voting, the ballot, sealing the ballot boxes and returns, and watchful 
care of them, and the method of preparing his vote in the booths, or place 
prepared by the judges of election, by the elector, shall be observed in all 
primary elections as far as practicable. 

Sec. 102. Before all primary elections, the blank ballots shall be 
counted in sufficient number for each precinct by the chairman of the 
executive committee, and delivered to the presiding judges of the pre¬ 
cinct primaries, and return shall be made by them to the chairman of 
the executive committee of the ballot boxes containing the ballots voted, 
locked and sealed, tally sheets, return sheets, ballots mutilated and 
defaced, and ballots not voted, for which he shall account to the execu¬ 
tive committee of the county. 

Sec. 103. If there shall be two factions of the same political party, 
each claiming recognition on the official ballot, the county clerk shall 
place on the official ballot the nominees of that faction which the chair¬ 
man of the executive committee of the party shall certify as being the 
regular nominee, except as herein provided. 

Sec. 104. All nominations in primary convention shall be made in 
such manner as the political party shall determine; provided, that no one 
shall vote in such convention unless his name is on the poll tax or certifi¬ 
cate of exemption roll for the precinct, if the voter is required to procure 
a certificate of exemption under this act. 

Sec. 105. The expenses incurred in furnishing blank poll tax receipt 
books and blank poll tax receipt and certificate of exemption rolls for the 
precinct shall be paid by the county. 

Sec. 106. The county collector shall be paid for making out each cer¬ 
tificate of exemption and each poll tax receipt contained in poll tax book 
No. 1 fifteen cents; but this shall include duplicates and copies thereof 
in that book, and in the book filed with the county judge, and all in the 
poll tax rolls of receipts and certificates of exemption made out for the 
precincts; for all of which no additional sum shall be paid. Such 
amount shall be paid by the county commissioners court on the presenta¬ 
tion by the tax collector of an itemized statement, sworn to by him, 
and approved by the county judge. The compensation allowed the col¬ 
lector under this section shall be fees ex-officio, and shall not be com¬ 
puted under what is known as the fee bill. 

Sec. 107. No immaterial error made by any officer of a primary elec¬ 
tion, nor any immaterial violation of the primary election laws by an 
elector, shall vitiate any election held under this act nor be the cause of 
throwing out the vote of any election precinct. 


- 21 - 


penalties FOR VIOLATING ELECTION LAWS. 

Sec. 108. Any person who is found guilty of a misdemeanor under 
this act for a violation of its provisions, shall be subject to a fine of not 
less than two hundred dollars nor more than five hundred dollars, or sen¬ 
tenced to hard labor on the public roads of the county in which the 
offense was committed for any period of time, not more than one year, or 
to both such punishments. 

Sec. 109. Any person who at a general or special election, or at a 
primary election or primary convention of a party, wilfully votes or 
attempts to vote in any other name than his own, or more than once, is 
guilty of a misdemeanor. 

Sec. 110. Any person who votes or offers to vote at a primary elec¬ 
tion or convention of a political party, having voted at a primary elec¬ 
tion or convention of any other party on the same day, is guilty of a 
misdemeanor. 

Sec. 111. Any person who fraudulently, wrongfully and wilfully 
does any act in violation of law to affect the result of any election or a 
primary election or convention, is guilty of a misdemeanor, unless such 
act is specially designated and its punishment otherwise prescribed. 

Sec. 112. Any person being an officer, clerk or employe of or in the 
office of county collector of taxes, precinct judge, or clerk of election, 
who knowingly puts opposite the name of a voter on a poll tax receipt 
or exemption certificate rolls, or any official copy thereof, any other 
number than that first written, or knowingly delivers to or receives from 
any voter any poll tax receipt or exemption certificate on which is any 
other name than that placed opposite the voter’s name when it was first 
issued, is guilty of a misdemeanor. 

Sec. 113. Any collector of taxes, or one in his employ, who wilfully 
fails or refuses to transcribe, correctly from the original poll tax receipt 
or exemption rolls, and insert in the rolls correctly for precinct elections, 
the poll tax receipts and exemption certificates required by law, or, being 
such tax collector, wilfully gives a poll tax receipt.or certificate of exemp¬ 
tion to one not entitled thereto, or who wilfully fails or refuses to 
describe in such receipt or certificate the residence of the voter, as he 
believes it to be, or falsely describes his party affiliation, or gives such 
receipt or certificate after the first day of February for each year, or who 
wilfully fails to keep the original poll tax receipt roll and certificate of 
exemption roll securely locked up when the same are not being actually 
used, or who permits them to be mutilated or defaced, or who conceals, 
alters or destroys them, is guilty of a misdemeanor. 

Sec. 114. Any judge of election who permits the removal of ballots 
before the closing of the polls, or refuses to receive a ballot after a citi¬ 
zen has legally folded and returned same, or refuses to deliver to a citi¬ 
zen entitled to vote under the law an official ballot, or fails to keep order 
■within the polling place, or permits any person except the clerks and 
judges of election, or those who enter for the purpose of voting, to come 
within the guard rail, or knowingly permits any one to remove, alter or 
deface a stamp number or signature legally placed on a ballot for future 
identification, is guilty of a misdemeanor. 

Sec. 115. Any election judge or clerk, chairman of a party executive 
committee, or employe of such persons, or officer of a political primary 
convention or primary election, who wilfully refuses, omits, or neglects 


— 22 — 


to do any act required by the election laws, or makes, or attempts to 
make, any false canvass of the ballots cast at a primary election or pri¬ 
mary convention, or a false statement of the result of a canvass of the 
ballots cast, is guilty of a misdemeanor. 

Sec. 116. Any chairman of a county executive or district executive 
committee who is charged with the duty of certifying the names of the 
candidates selected by a primary convention or primary election or elec¬ 
tions, who wilfully omits to certify the name of any candidate legally 
chosen, or who certifies falsely regarding any one chosen or defeated, is 
guilty of a misdemeanor. 

Sec. 117. Any judge or presiding officer of a primary election or 
convention who wilfully and knowingly permits any citizen to vote at 
such election or convention who does not reside in the voting precinct, 
or who does not present before voting his poll tax receipt or certificate 
of exemption, or his affidavit of its loss, or who in such receipt or certifi¬ 
cate declared his political affiliation to be with some other party than 
that with which he offers to vote, or who receives the vote of any citizen 
whose name does not appear on the poll tax receipt rolls or certificate of 
exemption rolls for the precinct, is guilty of a misdemeanor. 

Sec. 118. Any person who, during an election, wilfully defaces or 
injures an election booth or compartment, or wilfully removes any of the 
supplies provided for elections, or before the closing of the polls wilfully 
defaces or destroys any list of candidates to be voted for at an election 
which has been posted in accordance with the election laws, or who, 
during an election, wilfully removes or defaces the cards of instruction 
for voters, or distance-markers placed in accordance with law, is guilty 
of a misdemeanor. 

Sec. 119. Any person or corporation who refuses to an employe 
entitled to vote the privilege of attending the polls, or subjects such 
employe to a penalty or deduction of wages because of the exercise of 
such privilege, is guilty of a misdemeanor. 

Sec. 120. If any person shall open or keep open any barroom, saloon 
or wholesale liquor house, where vinous, malt, spirituous and intoxicat¬ 
ing liquors are sold, during any portion of the day on which an election 
is held for any purpose or office in the voting precinct, town or city 
where such election is held, or shall in such voting precinct, village, 
town or city, sell, barter or give away any vinous, malt, spirituous or 
intoxicating liquor during the day of such election, or if any person shall 
carry or cause to be carried to the polling place on the day of election 
any such liquor for the purpose of sale, gift or drinking the same, or if 
any person shall find and take possession of any liquor at or near the 
polling place, or inform another of its whereabouts, he shall be deemed 
guilty of a misdemeanor; provided, that such liquors may be sold on 
election day by a drug store to fill a prescription of a physician, who will 
at the time certify in writing on honor that it is needed by his sick 
patient, leaving such certificate with the druggist, and provided such sick 
patient is confined for that day to his bed. 

Sec. 121. Any person who attempts to falsely personate at an elec¬ 
tion another person, and vote or attempt to vote on the authority of a 
poll tax receipt or certificate of exemption not issued to him by a county 
tax collector, is guilty of a felony, and shall be punished by hard labor 


—23— 


within the walls of a penitentiary not less than three nor more than five 
years. 

Sec. 122. If any person shall make a false affidavit that his poll tax 
receipt or certificate of exemption has been lost or mislaid, or wilfully 
and corruptly induce another to make such affidavit, he shall be punished 
by imprisonment in the penitentiary not less than three nor more than 
five years. 

Sec. 123. If any person shall wilfully alter or obliterate, suppress 
or destroy any ballots, election returns or certificates of election, he shall 
be deemed guilty of a felony and imprisonment in the State penitentiary 
not less than three nor more than five years. 

Sec. 124. Any collector of taxes who shall knowingly and wilfully 
issue and deliver a poll tax receipt or certificate of exemption to a fic¬ 
titious person, shall be punished by confinement in the State peniten¬ 
tiary not less than three nor more than five years. 

Sec. 125. Any collector of taxes, or clerk in his office, who shall 
deliver any poll tax receipt or certificate of exemption to any other per¬ 
son than to the citizen whose name is written thereon and who is entitled 
thereto, is guilty of a misdemeanor. 

Sec. 126. Any one to whom a poll tax receipt or certificate of exemp¬ 
tion may be entrusted for safe keeping, who fails to return the same to 
the owner thereof at least three days before any primary election day or 
primary convention day, and three days before any general election day, 
shall be guilty of a misdemeanor; provided, that if the party so 
entrusted is unable to find the citizen who gave it to him, he may evade 
the penalty of this section by proving that he delivered it three days 
before such election day to the county collector of taxes of the county 
to be delivered to the owner. 

Sec. 127. Any person who shall sell, pledge, loan or deposit his poll 
tax receipt or certificate of exemption for money or any other thing of 
value, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and the person who 
purchases, borrows or obtains possession of the same by way of pledge 
or loan, is guilty of a misdemeanor. Either of the parties to such wrong¬ 
ful act may be compelled to appear and testify in a proceeding against 
the other, but he shall not thereafter be arrested or punished for his par¬ 
ticipation in such wrongful act. 

Sec. 128. If any person entrusted with the transmission to the pre¬ 
cinct election judges of official ballots, poll tax receipt and exemption 
certificate rolls, sample cards, instruction cards, and all supplies required 
to conduct an election, or who being entrusted with the retransmission 
of election returns, or election boxes, wilfully fails to deliver, or wilfully 
does any act to defeat the delivery thereof, or not being a person 
entrusted therewith shall do any act to defeat the due delivery of such 
election returns, election supplies, or election boxes, or who being an 
officer or person with whom may be legally entrusted the ballots cast at 
an election, shall open and read any ballot or permit it to be done, 
except as provided by law in the discharge of his duty, he shall be guilty 
of a misdemeanor. 

Sec. 129. Any person who fails to keep securely any ballot box con¬ 
taining ballots voted at an election, when committed to his charge by one 
having authority over the same, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. 

Sec. 130. Any person who shall do any electioneering, or solicit a 


-24- 


citizen to vote for any person on election day within one hundred feet of 
a polling place, or who, being a precinct judge or clerk at an election, 
electioneers at any place on election day, either at a primary election or 
primary convention, or general election, or shall wilfully and illegally 
remove official ballots from the polling place, or who, being a voter, shall 
show his ballot after he marks it so as to .reveal the vote he has prepared, 
or marks it otherwise than the law provides for identification, or who, 
being a voter, shall deliver to a precinct judge of election any other ballot 
than the One delivered to him by a judge at a polling place, or who, being 
a precinct judge or clerk of election, shall indicate by word, gesture or 
sign to any citizen on the day of election how he desires him to vote, 
shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. 

Sec. 131. Any person who lends or contributes, or offers or promises 
to lend or contribute or pay, any money or other valuable thing to any 
voter to influence his vote, or to influence the vote of any other person, 
whether under the guise of a wager or otherwise, to induce any voter to 
vote or refrain from voting at an election for or against any person or 
persons, or for or against any particular proposition submitted to votes, 
or to induce such voter to come to the polls or remain away from the 
polls at any election, or to induce such voter or other person to place 
or cause to be placed his name on the poll tax or certificate of exemption 
rolls, is guilty of a felony, and on conviction shall be punished by con¬ 
finement in the penitentiary not less than three nor more than five years, 
and, in addition, forfeits any office to which he may have been elected at 
the election, with reference to which such offense may have been com¬ 
mitted, and becomes incapable of holding office under the laws of Texas. 

Sec. 132. Any person who gives, or promises to give, any office, place 
or employment, or promises to procure any office, place or employment to 
or for any voter, or to or for any other person, to induce such voter or 
other person to vote or refrain from voting at an election for or against 
any person, or for or against any proposition submitted at the election, 
or to induce any voter or other person to pay his poll tax or obtain his 
certificate of exemption, or declare his political affiliation with any politi¬ 
cal party when he obtains his poll tax receipt or certificate of exemption, 
or to refrain from doing either, is guilty of a felony, and upon convic¬ 
tion shall be punished by confinement in the penitentiary not less than 
three nor more than five years, and, in addition, shall forfeit any office 
to which he may have been elected at the election with reference to 
which the offense may have been committed, and becomes ineligible to 
any other public office. 

Sec. 133. The penalty pronounced in the last preceding section 
against those who violate its provisions shall be imposed on any one who 
receives, agrees to receive, or contracts for before or during election to 
receive any money, gift, loan, or other valuable thing, place, office or 
employment for himself or for any other person, for voting or agreeing 
to vote, or for going or agreeing to go to the polls on election day, or for 
remaining away or agreeing to remain from the polls on election day, or 
for refraining or agreeing to refrain from obtaining his poll tax receipt 
or certificate of exemption, or for obtaining or agreeing to obtain the 
same, or for voting or agreeing to vote for or against any particular per¬ 
son or proposition submitted to a vote of the people. 

Sec. 134. Any candidate, or any other person, for his benefit or in 


—25— 


his behalf, who gives, pays, or offers, or promises to give or pay, any 
money or other thing of value to the owner, editor, proprietor or agent 
of any newspaper, to induce either of such persons to advocate in such 
newspaper the election or appointment to the office of a candidate for 
office, is guilty of a misdemeanor; provided, that the regular advertising 
rates charged other people for the publication of articles written by one 
not connected with such paper shall not be construed to be a violation of 
this section. 

Sec. 135. Any editor, proprietor or agent of a newspaper who, either 
in person or through an agent, receives any money or thing of value 
except as herein provided, as a consideration for advocating or opposing 
the election or appointment of any one to an office in editorial article 
or articles, is guilty of a misdemeanor. 

Sec. 136. Any person in the civil or military service of the United 
States in this State who, by threats, bribery, menace, or other corrupt 
means, attempts to control or controls the vote of an elector, or annoys, 
injures or punishes him for the manner in which he exercises his elec¬ 
tive franchise in any election, is guilty of a misdemeanor, and may be 
arrested and tried at any future time when he may be found in Texas. 

Sec. 137. Any corporation, or officer thereof, who, directly or indi¬ 
rectly, furnishes, loans, or gives any money or thing of value to aid those 
who manage what has been known in Texas as “Political Headquarters” 
of candidates, or to any campaign manager or to any particular candidate 
or person to promote the success of such candidate for public office, shall 
be guilty of a misdemeanor, and if a corporation, if the act was done 
with the approval or connivance of its president, financial agent, or treas¬ 
urer, forfeits its charter. It shall be the duty of the Attorney General 
to institute proceedings for such forfeiture whenever it is made known 
to him by the affidavit of a reputable man that in his opinion such offense 
has been committed. The officers, agents and employes of such corpora¬ 
tion, as also the candidate, and all persons connected with his political 
headquarters, shall be competent witnesses, and may be compelled to 
attend court and testify, and those shall not be subject to prosecution 
who reveal facts showing a violation of this section. 

Sec. 138. Any officer or employe of the State, or of a political sub¬ 
division thereof, who directly or indirectly uses his authority or official 
influence to compel or induce any officer, clerk or employe of the State, 
or any political division thereof, to subscribe, pay or promise to pay, any 
political assessment, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. 

Sec. 139. Any person who, while holding a public office, or seeking 
a nomination or appointment therefor, corruptly uses of promises to use, 
directly or indirectly, any official authority or influence possessed or 
anticipated, in any way to aid any person in securing any office or 
public employment, or any nomination, confirmation, promotion, appoint¬ 
ment or increase of salary, upon consideration that the vote or political 
influence or action of the person so to be benefited, or of any other per¬ 
son, shall be given or used in behalf of any candidate, officer or party, 
or upon any other corrupt consideration, is guilty of a misdemeanor. 

Sec. 140. Any head of any of the Department of State, or other 
public officer, who shall demand or receive any money or thing of value 
from any clerk or other person in his office, for his election expenses, 
or to reimburse him for money already expended, or who shall remove 


—26— 


from office any competent clerk who declines to make such contribution, 
shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor. 

Sec. 141.' Any person who knowingly and wilfully procures from 
any court, clerk or other officer a certificate of naturalization which has 
been allowed, signed or sealed in violation of the laws of the United 
States or of this State, with intent to enable him or any other person 
to vote at any election, when he or such person is not entitled by the 
laws of the United States to become a citizen or to exercise the elective 
franchise, is guilty of a felony, and upon conviction shall be punished 
by confinement in the penitentiary not less than five nor more than t£n 
years. 

Sec. 142. Any candidate for office who fails to file with the county 
judge of the county of his residence within ten days after an election 
at which he received enough votes to elect him, an itemized statement, 
under oath, of all his expenses incurred during the canvass preceding the 
election, including his traveling expenses, hotel bills and money paid to 
newspapers, is guilty of a misdemeanor. 

Sec. 143. The penalties by this act shall be given in charge by dis¬ 
trict judges in charging grand juries. 

Sec. 144. This act is cumulative as to penalties for violating the 
election laws of the State and as to the mode and manner of any law 
except such laws as are inconsistent with it, or in conflict herewith; pro¬ 
vided, this act shall not apply to any election held prior to February 1, 
1904. 

Sec. 145. The importance of this act to the people of Texas, the 
near approach of the end of the session and the crowded condition of the 
calendar, create an emergency and imperative public necessity requiring 
that the constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several 
days be suspended, and the said rule is hereby suspended. 

[Note. —The enrolled bill shows that the foregoing act passed the 
House of Eepresentatives by vote, yeas 70, nays 29; and was referred to 
the Senate where same was amended and passed by a two-thirds vote, 
yeas 22, nays 8; House concurred in Senate amendments, no vote given.] 

Approved April 1, 1903. 

Becomes a law 90 days after adjournment, but does not apply to any 
election held prior to February 1, 1904. (See Sec. 144.) 


INDEX 


Sec. Page. 


Administering oaths. 

Affidavit (lost receipt) 

Arrest of electors. 

Ballots. 

Ballot boxes . 

Clerks of election. 

Clerks, compensation . 

Counting votes. 

Election blanks . 

Electors, qualification .... 
Exemption from poll tax . 
Exemption certificate .... 
Examination of ballot 
Forms, Secretary of State . 

Fireman’s election . 

General election . 

Judges, appointment of . .. 

Judges, selection . 

Judges, compensation. 

Judges, administer oaths . . 

Judges, peace officers. 

Notice to judges. 

Notice of elections. 

Oath of judges and clerks ., 

Official ballots. 

Opening polls . 

Opening polls (time) . 

Order for elections. 

Penalties and misdemeanors 

Poll tax. 

Poll tax receipts. 


37 

2 

6 

. .. .54, 58-60 
....52, 55-58 
34, 35 
36 
66 

31 
1,2 

25 
26, 27 
71 
40 
59 
7 

11, 13, 34, 35 
33 

36 

37 

. ... 37 

32 

. ... 38, 39, 42 
53 

. ... 76, 80 

52 
14 
38-44 
. ... 108-142 
.. .. 2, 9,12 

17-24 


8 

1 

2 

11,12 
11,12 

7 

8 

14 

7 
1 

5 

6 

15 

8 

12 

2 

3,7 

7 

8 
8 
8 
7 

8,9 

11 

15 

10 

3 

8,9 

21 

1,2,3 

3,5 


































-28- 

Sec. Page. 

Poll tax blanks .17,18,19, 20 4 

Poll tax, unorganized county. 16 3 

Poll tax, minority. 26 6 

Poll tax, time of payment. 12 3 

Payment of poll tax, identity. 30 7 

Poll lists . 70 15 

Precincts . 11,15 3 

Primary conventions and elections... 82-107 16-20 

Receiving and counting votes. 61-70 15 

Refreshments. 73 15 

Registration. 5 2 

Removal from precinct. 28 6 

Removal from county. 29 6 

Residence. 3,4 2 

Returns. 43 9 

Special election . 8 2 

School election . 59 12 

Secretary of State, forms. 40 8 




















/ 




























I 















































« 

























iiffiARY OF CONGRESS 



0 028 070 930 A 


